The Boys of Sumer

Pat Lowinger hosted another PNW Rampant event at the Gig Harbor library. We had a truncated day due to new library rules about how long anyone can book the meeting room for, but I still got in two games with my freshly-painted, you-can-still-smell-the-dullcote Sumerians that I painted for use with Pat's Chariots Rampant variant to the Lion Rampant rules by Dan Mersey.

The traffic was good driving down from formerly bucolic Lynnwood, WA. I made it in just over an hour and got there early enough to set up before our official 1:00 start time. The plan was to play two games with Scott Abbott; one a Chariots Rampant game against his Mycenaeans and the second being a Rebels and Patriots game with Jubal Tardee's company of butternut-clad Rebs against Scott's blue-clad 6th Wisconsin. Alas, Scott dropped the box containing his Lincolnite hirelings when he was loading it into his car, so we played two games of Chariots Rampant. We'll have to schedule a Rebels and Patriots game for some time later—after the repair work has been done.

I set up the table using my 'desert mat,' which is a piece of flannel with a tan tie-dye pattern that I got at Jo-Ann's fabrics, along with a few old Games Workshop 'desert' rocky hills, some lichen, and a small pond that served as the oasis whose possession was the victory condition for our games. Water is dear in the desert.

Scott's force was the following:

     2 x Light Chariots + expert drivers + bow-armed (like Mounted Yeomen in LR)
     3 x Spearmen (like Foot Sergeants in LR, but no schiltron)

My force comprised the following:

     1 x Heavy Chariots (like Mounted Men at Arms in LR, but can shoot javelins 6")
     2 x Spearmen (see above)
     1 x Archers (same as in LR)
     3 x Skirmishers (like Bidowers in LR)

I designed to force to be shooty with just a we bit of punch (and quite wee it was). I could also have replaced two Skirmisher units with a light chariot and chariot runners. In hindsight, I ought to have done so for the second game just to see how the rule works.

Deployment

Scott's lack of missile troops, apart from his Light Chariots, was decisive. I was able to sit back and let him smack into my Spearmen while the Archers and Skirmishers pelted him with arrows, javelins, and slingstones.

My one foray into aggressive behavior in the first game was when I sent my Heavy Chariots, led by my general, against one of Scott's light chariot units. That got me stuck in a beehive. Scott kept bashing into me with his Spearmen. I managed to bounce most of the attacks and pass the morale checks and dodge the lucky blows, but I kept taking losses unit I had just one hit left before they went. I kept trying to move him back to safety, but several turns running he kept failing his move activation. Finally, Scott got one more blow at him and he was gone.

Leading with my chin

However, Scott lost his general just before that. He'd been smacking away at my poor Archers, which had always managed to pass morale and thus managed to survive the game, albeit much abused. I managed to inflict a bit of harm on his General's unit with every attack, but it took getting caught after trying to evade my Spearmen that did him in.

Attacked by Spearmen

Going...

Almost gone...

The Heavy Chariots were the only unit I lost, however. Even the poor Archers came through. My Spearmen were pretty beaten up as well. The Skirmishers kept to the difficult terrain for the most part and escaped punishment. Scott was aggressive, but not so much that he'd send his Light Chariots into the rough to get at me.

Mycenaean last hurrah

In the end, Scott lost all his units and my Sumerians were able to quench their thirst in the oasis' cool waters.

The end of game 1: Miller time for Sumer

The second game went similar to the first. I was more cautious with my general and his donkey carts. He never got into action at any point in the game. Heavy Chariots are tough (like mounted men-at-arms), but brittle. I thought that keeping him back directing things and giving his +1 to my morale checks was a better use than getting him beat up by a bunch of proto-Greeks.

The bowmen take position in the oasis

My general mastering masterly inaction

Hard pressed on my right

 One big factor in the second game was my skirmishers up on two rocky hills (rough terrain) from which they could shoot at Scott's units with impunity.

It was great to finally get my Sumerians in action—as well as finally finishing them. I started them some time in 2018, but they sat partially completed until just last week when I could pull myself away from the 1672 project long enough to get the last bit done.

Pat is running a dedicated Chariots Rampant game day in March and next month we have a dedicated Dark Ages Lion Rampant variant day. This may be the occasion to work myself into putting together my 20+ year old Old Glory Picts into a proper LR retinue.

Ó Súilleabháin's lament: The Pikeman's Lament AAR

Chris Craft and I played a 24-point per side game of The Pikeman's Lament today. We used my 28mm English and Irish from Timeline Miniatures. I truly love this range of figures. They're the old Graven Images/Monolith Designs Border Reivers figures that were sculpted by Jim Bowen and sold to Timeline after Jim died. I have a pile of them, which I painted a few years back for The Irish Project back in '17. I've managed to game with them several times, though too few in my opinion. Luckily, I have enough to put on large games supplying the figures for both sides—and I still have more to paint.

We played The River Crossing scenario from The Pikeman's Lament rules, only we ran the river straight across the middle rather than cantered corner to corner. I had fun setting up the board. I've amassed a pretty impressive amount of terrain over the years.

I also took the opportunity to deploy some of the new hedgerows I've been working on.

Chris took the hated English and I took the Irish. Chris' army was pretty straightforward:

   2 x Pikes
   4 x Shot

I went a little more diverse:

   1 x Aggressive Forlorn Hope
   1 x Aggressive Gallopers
   2 x Shot
   3 x Commanded Shot

I had a slight advantage in shooting, although the Commanded Shot can be brittle with only 6 figures. My thinking was that the advantage of moving freely through the rough terrain would help. It didn't. My real hope was that my aggressive melee units would pack the punch I needed.

The river between us and the brambles lining the banks were all rough terrain with just one bridge in the middle. Chris deployed with his two Pike units aimed straight at the bridge supported by his Shot.

I kept my two Shot opposite the bridge, supported by my Forlorn Hope (gallowglas) and the Gallopers. I put the Commanded Shot (kern) out on my flanks.

On Turn 1, Chris rolled the Holy Grail of 6-6+6 for his first activation. He took another 4-point Pike unit. I hoped I might get the same luck, but I settled for at least not getting the unHoly Grail of 1-1+1 and losing 4 points of troops.

A lot of our shooting was less deadly than it might have been because we shot a lot at each other while in cover or across the stream, which we counted as cover with all the brambles 'n' such obscuring the target.

Chris came on the first turn making a beeline over the bridge with two Pike units. I responded by shooting—or trying to shoot.

My left Shot unit started banging away at the lead Pike unit getting a few hits. My right Shot unit kept flubbing its activation rolls. We used the alternative activation that allows a player to attempt to activate all units in a turn rather than the standard one fail and done method.

Chris moved his third Pike unit, the reinforcements he got from his lucky 6-6+6 activation roll, against my kern (Commanded Shot) on the left. He also ran one of his Shot units up in support.

The action at the bridge see-sawed. After getting just the head of the column over, Chris' Pikes got sent back after taking shot and failing morale. After rallying, Chris pushed the pikes back over and got sent back again.

All the while, my Shot, which has been targeting Chris' Pikes, has been taking fire from Chris' Shot and taking casualties. After several failed activation attempts, my right Shot unit finally gets into action. I couldn't pass my activation, but I managed to hang tough on every morale check.

I moved up my gallowglas—commanded by himself, The Ó Súilleabháin—to get within striking range of the Pikes, but then I shot the Pikes and sent them scurrying out of my charge range.

On my left, Chris was pressing with his Pikes. I'd managed to cause one Shot unit to rout away, but had lost one of the two kern units I had there. Chris charged his Pikes across the river into my kern, but since we were fighting in rough terrain, the advantage was mine. He got repulsed with loss, but I took some damage as well.

He charged once again with similar result. I finally managed to get a shot at him that made his Pikes go away after a badly failed moraled test.

After a few more turns of sparring, I finally got the chance to strike in with my gallowglas, The Ó Súilleabháin at their head. Chris' Pikes were much diminished now and the charge broke them.

With his lead Pike unit gone, Chris formed his second one, commanded by his officer, in Close Order awaiting my onslaught. Rather than strike in with my gallowglass, I sent in my horsemen.

The result was predictable. I got bounced with loss, but I managed to inflict some loss on him. I charged in again and again got bounced with loss. We were chewing each other up pretty equally, except that I had fewer men to lose. I did, however, manage to pass all my morale tests.

With my horse battered down to a lone survivor, I sent the gallowglas against Chris' now much-battered last Pike unit. At the same time, I sent my last horsemen against Chris' Shot unit.

This finally did the trick and the unit went down, with Chris' officer. My last horseman did enough damage to cause Chris' Shot unit to waver from which it never recovered until it finally broke from a failed rally test.

The Ó Súilleabháin was now alone, his gallant gallowglas dead around him. He dodged every lucky blow. My only other unit was a half-strength Shot unit.

In the ensuing turns—we'd rolled for end of game, but it didn't—I got my Shot unit over the river, wisely avoiding the bridge where I wouldn't benefit from cover. Chris had two diminished, but still above half-strength, Shot units. He used these to dispatch The Ó Súilleabháin. No foe could beat him hand-to-hand; his end came from an enemy far away.

My last battered unit of Irish Shot grimly held its ground across the bloody river, giving the honor of the day to the Irish—no Englishmen had made it across and lived. But like Doughty Douglas at Otterburn, a dead man won the fight and The Ó Súilleabháin's favorite piper played his lament as the sun set.

Pikeman's Lament: Plug your bayonet!

With my 1672 project in full swing and steadfastly directed toward The Pikeman's Lament, I've been noodling on some house rules specific to the use of plug bayonets, but also some ideas for integrating Pike and Shot units in TPL generally.

Musketeers of the 1670s were typically equipped with a plug bayonet, which is called a dagger in English drill manuals of the era; the command for fixing your bayonet was actually, "Screw in your dagger." The plug bayonet remained in use through the end of the 17th c. Even though the socket bayonet had been developed, the muskets produced for the era didn't have the necessary lug to fix the newfangled socket bayonet, which meant that they tended to fall off.

The plug bayonet was fairly secure once it was fixed in place. However, the barrel of the musket being plugged meant that the unit couldn't shoot. Musketeers had to choose between shooting and fixing bayonets and might easily get caught dithering between the two choices, such as happened to poor Hugh Mackay's troops at Killiecrankie in 1689.

The Plug Bayonet rules are pretty straightforward and are just a variation of the standard rules for allowing Shot units to form Close Order—except for the reaction ability.

The Pike & Shot rules are more detailed, but actually pretty simple in execution. They only seem complex because I've tried to account for every "what if" I could think of.

Plug Bayonet

Shot units in the 1670s can form close order as described on page 21 of the rules. However, when in close formation, the unit cannot fire because it represents shot with plug bayonets fixed in the barrels of their muskets.

• It requires a move activation to go into or out of close order (i.e., fix or unfix the plug bayonets)
• Units that enter rough going lose the +1 to their attack and defence scores, but are still considered to have plug bayonets fixed until unfixed by a move action.
• As a reaction to being charged by mounted troops or clansmen, shot may attempt to go into close order, succeeding on a roll of 7+. If unsuccessful, the unit becomes Wavering.

Pike & Shot

Shot units may be protected by Pike units when attacked by mounted troops or Clansmen. With a move activation, a shot unit that is within a half move (3") of a Pike unit that is 6 models or more, not wavering, has not yet activated this turn, and is not in rough terrain may form close order with the Pike unit and receive a defensive benefit when attacked by mounted troops or Clansmen.

Shot forming up with Pikes in a "hedgehog" benefit from the protection of the pikes, but become more vulnerable to shooting due to their denser formation.

Forming Pike & Shot

• On the successful move activation, move the shot into contact with the pikes and formed around them. This is an exception to the rule that friendly units must be at least 1" away at all times.
• Although the Pikes do not roll for activation nor move, they are considered part of the action and they are considered to have been activated for that turn.
• The Pikes are considered to be in close order, per the special rule on page 20; the Shot are not in close order, i.e., their plug bayonets are not fixed and they can still shoot.
• While pike and shot are formed in this way, the Pikes may not activate separately. The shot may activate to shoot or move.
• The formation may not move, but a Shot unit can use a move action to move away from the Pike unit up to 3", thus breaking the formation.
• Once formed, the Shot is considered the active unit, i.e., the Pikes become a hedgehog defence in which the Shot takes shelter. All shooting and attacks are considered to be against the Shot unit. If attacked, only the Shot take casualties. If shot at, both units take the same number of casualties.
• Up to two Shot units may form close order with the same Pike unit. The Shot units are targeted separately for attacking and shooting, but both benefit from the defence values of the Pikes.

Attacking Pike & Shot

• A Pike and Shot formation may never attack.
• If the formation is attacked by mounted troops or clansmen, the Shot defend using the defence value and stamina of the Pikes (including the +1 for).
• If the formation is attacked by other foot units, the Shot does not use the defence values of the pikes, i.e., it defends using its own defence value and stamina.

Shooting from Pike & Shot

• Shot that shoots while in this formation has a -1 modifier to their dice scores. [Note that a normal Shot unit, with a 5+ shoot value, could effectively only shoot at 12" range, hitting on 6, unless using First Salvo.]

Morale in Pike & Shot

• If a morale test is required, each unit in the formation tests separately.

Breaking Pike & Shot formation

• As noted above, a Pike & Shot formation is broken when the Shot unit moves away. Thereafter, the Pike and Shot unit act independently, per the usual rules.
• The formation is also broken if either of the following occurs:

1. The Pike unit falls below 6 figures [Note that the Shot unit may fall below 6 figures without affecting the formation.]
2. If either unit in formation becomes Wavering.

• If the formation is broken by figure loss or wavering, separate the units with 1" between them.
• If two Shot units are formed with one Pike unit, breaking the formation of one may not affect the other. If one Shot unit becomes Wavering, it does not affect the formation between the Pikes and the other Shot unit. However, if the Pike unit becomes wavering or falls below 6 figures, the formation is broken for both Shot units.

 Shooting at a Pike & Shot  

• If the formation is shot at, use the stamina of the Pike unit; however, any figure loss is taken by both units in the formation, i.e., every 3 hits results in a figure loss from both the Pike unit and the Shot unit.

Forming Pike & Shot as a reaction

• As with Plug Bayonet, a Shot unit that is attacked by mounted troops or Clansmen may attempt to form with a Pike unit that is within a half move (3"), succeeding on a 7+. If successful, the units form per the rules above. If unsiccessful, both the Shot and the Pikes become Wavering. If the Pikes become wavering and are already formed with a second Shot unit, that formation is broken. Move the second shot unit 1" away. The second Shot unit does not become Wavering.